Women's Basketball Drops Opener To 7th-Ranked Skyhawks

Tyler Hardy tied a school record by hitting 11-of-11 from the free throw line. Photo By Jason Roberts.

DAVIE, Fla.—The Barry women’s basketball team opened the season with an 82-64 loss to the seventh-ranked Stonehill Skyhawks in the NSU Tip-off Classic at Nova Southeastern’s Don Taft Arena on Saturday.

The Bucs (0-1) jumped out to an early lead, 7-3, thanks to a 7-0 run and led 9-5 after Sharnese Neal’s basket at the 15:06 mark of the first half. All five Barry starters had scored by that point.

Barry extended the lead to 18-12 at the 10:39 mark on a free throw by Emily Schahczinski, but the Skyhawks closed the period on a 26-12 run to take a 38-30 lead into the break.

In the second half, the Bucs scored twice out of the locker room to cut the lead to 38-34, but after the Skyhawks pushed the lead to 10 points, 49-39, on a jumper by Amy Pelletier with 16:03 to play, Barry could not get closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Pelletier led all scorers with 21 points, while teammate Toni Faieta added 19 points in just 15 minutes of action. Ashley Gendron, Kelly Martin and Casey McLaughlin all chipped in 10 points for the balanced Skyhawks. For Barry, Tyler Hardy led the way with 18 points, including tying a school record with 11-for-11 from the free throw line. Only Karla Mast against Florida Tech on Jan. 19, 2005 (12-for-12) had a better perfect mark. Ines Kerin and Neal each tossed in 13 points for the Bucs.

Barry will face the 22nd-ranked Ichabods of Washburn University on Sunday at 2:00 pm to close out the classic.